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Phys. Rev. Lett. 74, 710 - 713 (1995)

Two-Dimensional Regimes of Self-Focusing, Wake Field Generation, and Induced Focusing of a Short Intense Laser Pulse in an Underdense Plasma

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S. V. Bulanov *, F. Pegoraro, and A. M. Pukhov †
Department of Theoretical Physics, University of Turin, and Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare sezione di Torino, Turin, Italy

Received 16 May 1994

The results of a two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulation and of an analytical description of the propagation in an underdense plasma of a short, relativistically intense, laser pulse are presented. Self-focusing is proven in an ultrarelativistic regime for moderately long pulses. Pulses shorter than the plasma wavelength, but wider than it, excite a wake wave with a regular electric field. The electron density in the wake has a "horseshoe" shape and focuses a long pulse locally. The excitation of stimulated Raman backward scattering is observed.


©1995 The American Physical Society

URL: http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.74.710
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.74.710
PACS: 52.40.-w, 42.65.-k, 52.35.-g

* Permanent address: General Physics Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Vavilov str. 38, 117942 Moscow, Russia.
† Permanent address: Moscow Institute for Physics and Technology, Dolgoprudnyi, Moscow Region, Russia.

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